Window blind



Aug. 5, 1952 T. ARMSTRONG WINDOW BLIND 4 Sheets-Sheef. 1

Original Filed June 24, 1950 I INVENTOiQ TIMMa s' AImSZMIIg ATTQ R N EYAug. 5, 1952 'r. ARMSTRONG 2,605,825

' WINDOW BLIND Original Filed June 24, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORN EYAug. 5 1952 T. ARMSTRONG WINDOW BLIND 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Original FiledJune 24, 1950 INVENTOR Thomas Armstrong ATTORNEY T. ARMSTRONG Aug. 5,1952 WINDOW BLIND 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed June 24, 1950 INVENTORATTORNEY m m A 5 m H Tv Patented Aug. 5, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT,OFFICE WINDOW BLIND Thomas Armstrong, Oakville, Ontario, Canada,

assignor, to Ruth Armstrong Application June 24, 1950, Serial No.170,064

. 13 Claims.

. 1 This invention relates to light controlling screens of the windowblind type, particularly to such screens havingverticallyarrangedlouvers or shutters, and is a continuation-in-part of myoopending application Serial No. 159,696, filed May 3, 1950,-to which'reference is herein made for many common novelfeatures.

An object of the invention is the provision of a novel, eificient andhighly attractive screen construction of the foregoing type which may beconveniently disposed to variably intercept a window opening.

A further object is the provision of an improved window blind whoseindividual louvers are made up of lengths of fabric so suspended inguideways that they'can be made to swing more or less freely formovement across the window opening, to thereby collapse the blind, orheld taut to control the light and air without removing them from theirposition intercepting the window opening.

Briefly, the window blind of the invention comprisesa series ofvertically arranged louvers sup-' ported between upper and, lowerhorizontally is provided with an actuator gear.

tilting or pivotal rotational movement of the louvers on their verticalaxes. Each louver has individual thereto a cup-like container enclosinga slotted or channeled pivotable cap. Associated with each louver thereis also provided an actuator or tilter element. The actuator or tilterelement is provided at the lower end with a turn key which is adapted torest in the slot of the pivotable cap, but in slidable relation thereto.The upper end of the actuator or tilter element The actuator gear isresponsive to movement of a common actuator rack (common to all actuatorgears) for pivotally moving the actuator or tilter element. In order tolink the upper end of the louver to the actuator or tilter element,there is provided a grip spindle having fixedly attached to the lowerend a tab for coupling to the louver and at the upper end a rollerbearing construction mounted within the cup but integral with thepivotable cap. At one end of the upper guideway assembly, there areprovided three interlinking gears one of I which is directly controlledby a lever located positioned channeled guideway assemblies. Each louvermay consist of a length of cloth attached the'cloth. The louvers arepivotable by individual "gears mounted at the upper end. These gears aresimultaneously controlled by a horizontally movable rack mounted in theupper guideway assembly and engaging all the'aforesaid gears. Eachlouver is rotatably'mounted in the lower guideway assembly bymeans of abearing construction. An adjustable lift rack in association with thelower guideway assembly in one position enables the louvers to bemaintained taut, thereby permitting simultaneous tilting or pivotalmovement of the louvers on their respective vertical axes, while inanother positionthe lift rack enables the louvers to be suspended moreor less freely, thereby permitting collapse of the blind, at theoption'of the operator. A bead chain passing through guide .tubesfand'looped over pulleys, wheels or rollers positioned at both ends oftheupper guideway assembly and fas tened to the two centrally positionedlouvers con-j trols the collapse of the blind to both sides'of thewindow; Half the number of louvers on one side of blind arelink.together at one end through collapsing links, while-the otherhalfof-the' louvers. on the other side of the blind'are also linked togetherthrough collapsinglinks.

Aj featureof the invention 'is theupper guideway. assembly.constructionjwhich controls the near the lower guideway assembly throughthe intermediary of a vertically positioned rod. The teeth of the commonactuator rack engage one of these-inte'rlinking gears, as a result ofwhich the common actuator rack moves longitudinally of the window blindin response to movement of this lever.

Another feature of the invention is the lower channeled guidewayassembly which has a zigzag shaped centering or locating channel thereinfor properly centering the louvers when it is desired to simultaneouslytilt the same on 'their respective vertical axes. This lower guidewayassembly is movable in a vertical direction by alift rack. A downwardmovement of the lower guideway assembly will center the louvers andmain:

tain them taut, thereby permitting tiltingof the louvers, provided theblind is not collapsed, while an upward movement of the lower guidewayassembly will release the louvers from the taut condition and enabletheblind to be collapsed.

, A-more detailed description of the invention 'i'ollows, in conjunctionwith a drawing, wherein:

Fi l is an elevation view of, the window blind of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation view of the window blind with. the upper ,andlower face moldings, removed; This figure is also taken along line 2-2of Fig. 3;

Fig. '3 is an end view of the right hand end of the blind shown in Fig.2, with the outer portion of the channel removed; I

Fig. l is a view in section of the bottom portion of Fig. 3 taken alongline 44;

Fig. 5 is a view of the upper guideway assembly looking down and takenalong line 55 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a View of the upper guideway assembly looking up and takenalong line 66 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a view of a portion of the lower guideway assembly lookingdown and taken along line 7-2, of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a View taken in section along the line 8-8 of Figs. 2 and 9Fig. 9 is a section oi" Fig. 8 taken along line 99;

Fig. 10 is a section view taken along line ill-! 3 9f Fig. 2; and

Fig. 11 is a view looking down on two centrally located pivot cups inthe upper guideway as sembly, and shows the manner of connection of thebead chain thereto.

Throughout the figures of the drawing, the same parts are represented bythe same numerals.

Referring to'the drawings in more detail, the window blind of theinvention comprises upper and lower horizontally positioned channeledguideway assemblies A and B respectively; concealed by face mouldings IIand I2, for supportingand moving a series of vertically positionedlouvers or shutters it.

The louvers, in the closed position of the blind, abut each other attheir adjacent edges as shown in Figs l and 2. Each louver comprises alength of clotliand extends between a longitudinally shiftable cup-likecarrier element 16 in the upper assembly and a pivotal grip spindlearrangewant 52 in the lower assembly. Thecloth louvers H) are eachprovided at opposite ends with hems 48 through which are insertedfolded-over metallic inserts d3. 7 Note Fig. 9. These inserts 43 slideinto the hems from the open ends thereof, and have holes 44 registeringwith correspondingly positioned holes in the heme. The upper end of thelouver is supported from the shiftable cup-like carrier 16 by means of atab 20 fastened to the pivotable grip spindle or shaft l8. The tab 20projects into the hem and insert as shown in Figs. 2 and 9. The lowerend of the associated means for enabling movement of the Theshiftablecup-like carrierelements [6 are shown'in detail in Figs.'2, 8and 9, and each comprises a' sliclable cup housing 15 mounted in theupper slottedchanneled g'uideway Hi. The housing E5 of the cup-likecarrier [6 contains therein a pivotabl cap I! which is supported bybearing'22. j Integral with the pivotal cap I? is the grip spindle'l8which terminates. in the tab or eye 29 for supporting a louver In. Thebearing 22 is of a type well known in the art and includes'the usualpivot cap, pivot roller bearing balls and ball locator plates. 'Eachpivotal'cap has integral therewith a channel or slot [9 in which theturn key 2| of the actuator or tilter elementis adapted to rest; Whenthe blind. is being collapsed, longitudinal movement of the 4 carrier 16causes the cap to travel off the turn key 2|. The carrier I6 is providedwith a pair of hooks 25 at the bottom thereof to which are fastenedcollapsible or flexible links 26 for coupling to the adjacent carriers.In this way the carriers (and also the louvers) are successively linkedone to another. The two centrally located carriers, however; are eachprovided with a collapsible link 26 on one side and a fixed link on theother side. The fixed links 65 couple the central two carriers toshiftable anchoring or locator blocks 32. Note Fig. 2. It will thus beseen that longitudinal movement of any one louver l0, such as thecentral louver, caused by movement of an anchoring element 32, willcause movement in the corresponding direction of the other louvers I0,provided of course, the cuplike carriers are properly positioned toenable them to travel off the turn keys 2 I and the lower ends of thelouvers are free to move in the lower guideway assembly.

For transmitting longitudinal movement to the louvers [0, there isprovided the beadior ball chain 24 which loops over the pulley wheels orrollers 28 and 30 at opposite ends of the slotted channel guideway l4and also loops over the ball chain sprocket 21 at the right hand end ofthe window blind. Note Figs. 2 and 3. The bead chain at the right handend of the window blind extends in a vertical direction and is normallyconcealed by a channel 29. The sprocket 21 is .driven by an operatingcrank or knurled knob,

of the bead chain is fastened to one shiftable anchoring or locatingblock 32, while the other l end of the bead chain is fastened to theother 1 shiftable anchoring or locating. block 32. The...

'manner of fastening the bead chains to the shift--.

able anchoring or locating blocks. is shown in; Fig. 11.

The turn key 2| which rests in the slot 1% of. eachpivot cap forms anintegral part of an actuator or tilter element for pivotally moving alouver H). The actuator or tilter element (there is one for each louver)comprisesa shaft 33 one end of which is secured ,to anactuator gear 34and the other end of which is integral with the turnkey 2!. 'Theactuator gears 34 of all actuator or tilter elements engage a commonactuator rack 35; in turn,.movable longitudinally in response. tomovement of the gears 31, 38 and 39 positioned at. the right hand end ofthe window blind-.

Gears-31, 38 and 39 areof progressively in-- creasing diameter. 35meshes solely with gear 31. Note Fig. 3. Gear- 39 is controlled by ashaft or rod 41 which, in turn, ,is controlled. by a tilter'lever 80.Thus movement of lever will simultaneously control movement of fallactuator or tilter elements; through the intermediary of. gears .39,.38, 31, common actuating rack 35 and the individual actuator gears- 34.Theactuator gears 34 con trolthe' tilting ior pivotal rotationalmovement of thel'ouvers won their vertical axes.

The 'lower'l guideway assembly 131 includes ahorizontally positionedguideway :50' having .19.. longitudinally"extending 'zig zag'shapedslctway- 6 l .Slotwayji;I of thelow'r. 'channeled gnideway 50facesupwardl "Thebase'of the lower guide-l The common actuator rack:

. of the lower channeled guideway 50.

wayiio is solid, as at 5|. Note Figs. 2, 7, and lO. Thezig-zag shapedslotway 6| forms a centering or locating channel for the pivotal-gripspindle arrangement 52. There are as many grip spindles 52 as there arelouvers l0, and each such grip spindle 52comprises a conical housing 53through which passes a spindle IS. The spindle 18 terminates at one endin a tab 20 and at its other end in a bearing 22'. Tab 20 is angularlypositioned relative to spindle l8, as shown, to obtain a wide range oftilting or pivotal movement'of the louver. A similar tab construction ispreferably used for the tabs 20 in the .upper guideway assembly. Theconical shape of'housing 53 enables the grip spindle 52 to slide alongthe tapering sides of the slideway for exact cen-, tering as shown inFigs. .Zand 7, whenever the blind is in the uncollapsed condition and itis desired to maintain the louvers taut fortilting thereof. In this tautcondition, any desired tilting or pivotal movement (over a range of 180)can be fulfilled.

The louvers are enabled to collapse andmove to both sides of the windowblind (in response to movement of the knurled knob 3|) only when theturn keys 2| of the actuator or tilter elements are parallel to thesides of the channels or slots l9 ofthe pivot cap ll. In this condition,the slots IQ of the different caps I! are aligned in a straight line. Toachieve this condition of-collapsing the blind, the louvers l and alsothe lower grip spindle arrangements 52 must be free to movelongitudinally in the slotway 6|. To enable the louvers to be held tautor freelymovable for collapsing, there is provided a lift pinion 12under control of a torsion shaft M, in turn, controlled by movement of alever 18. The two directions of rotational movement of the torsion shaft14 are shown by the curved bidirectional arrow in Fig. 2. The liitpinion or gear 12 is mounted in a suitable housing 76 and engages 9,lift rack 13, in turn, secured to the bottom Note Figs. 2 and 10. Hence,any movement of lever l8will move the entire lower channeled guideway 50together with its grip spindles 52 in a vertical direction, up or downas the case may be, at the option of the operator. 7

An-inspection of the right hand view of the window blind, Fig. 3, andthe sectional view of Fig. 4, will reveal the presence of an adjustingbracket 83 having a plurality of teeth 84 for enabling the bead chain 24to have the proper degree of tightness. A removable plug 85 which -fitsinto any desired tooth of the adjusting bracket 83 serves to hold theshaft 5| of, the ball chain sprocket 21 in the'desired position on theadjusting bracket. 'The window blind can be aifixed to a window frame atthe top and bottom guideway assemblies bysuitable head end brackets suchas shown in way assembly and on the various louvers It). The louverswill be held taut, and movement of the common actuator rack 35 via thelever 80 will provide any desired degree of tilt or pivotal movementforall of the louvers, simultaneously, In

order to collapse the window blind, the lever 18 6, is turned in acounter-clockwise direction, thereby causing the lift gear 12 to raisethe lower guideway assembly and relieve all pressure on the gripspindles 52 and hence on the louvers. The pivot caps ofthe differentcarriers l6 may then slide off the turn keys 2| of the actuator ortilter elements of'the. upper guideway assembly provided the slots l9are aligned in the same straight line. .Movement of the knurled knob 3|will impart. motion to the bead chain 24. The two central louvers,because of their coupling to the anchoring or locator blocks 32, willmove in opposite directions and carry with them the other louvers. Aspreviously mentioned, the locator blocks are connected to. the louvercarriers |6 through the collapsible links 26. Movement of the knob 3| inone direction will collapse or open the blind, whilemovement of the knob3| in, an opposite direction will close the blind.

Among the many advantages of the invention are: The louvers areeachindividually and easily attached to the supporting and actuating mecha:nism by a simple movement, without interfering with the other louvers,thereby permitting individual exchange or. replacement thereof; thevertical pos tion of the louvers collects less dust then horizontallypositioned louvers, and facilitates thorough cleansing when required;the use of actuators in the upper guideway assemblycontrolled by a levernear the lower guideway assem bly provides an improved construction; theangular position of the tab of the grip device enables a positivecontrol of the louvers and a wide range of tilting or pivotal movementof thelouvers; and the window blind provides an extremely attractiveappearance. Both sides of the, louvers can be differently colored,thereby providing a choice of colors on opposite sides of the blind.

What is claimed is:

1. A window blind comprising upper and lower horizontally positionedchanneled guideways adapted to be mounted across a building opening tobe served by the blind, said blind having verti cally arranged louverspositioned between said guideways and turnable about their verticalaxes,means in said upper channeled guideway for pivotally moving saidlouvers, saidineans including an actuating gear for each louver, acommon longitudinally movablerack engaging the actuating gears of saidlouvers, and a pivotal cap between each actuating gear and itsassociated louver, each said cap having a horizontally positioned slottherein, each said gear having secured to its shaft a turn key adaptedto rest in the slot of its associated pivotal cap, whereby alignment ofsaid slots in saidpivotal caps enables movement over said turn keys andcollapse of said blind.

2. A window blind comprising upper and lower horizontally pos tionedchanneled guideways adapted to be mounted across a building opening tobe served by the blind, said blind having vertically arranged louverspositioned between said guideways and turnable about their verticalaxes,

means in said upper channeled guideway for pivotally moving saidlouvers, said means including a horizontally positioned actuating gearfor each louver, a horizontally extending rack engaging all of saidactuating gears, an actuator element individual to each louver andcontrolled by the associated actuating gear thereof, and a pivotingdevice linking the upper end of each louver with its associated actuatorelement, collapsible links between adjacent louvers, and an endlesschain horizontally positioned within said upper guideway and secured tocertain ones of said louvers 7 forcollapsin said vertical louvers in ahorizontal direction across the width of said blind.'

3. A window blind comprising upper and lower horizontally positionedchanneled guideways adapted to be mounted across a building opening tobe served by the blind, said blind having ,vertically arranged louverspositioned between and turnable about their vertical axes, means in saidupper channeled guideway for pivotally moving said louvers, said meansincluding a horizontally positioned actuat ng gear for each louver, ahorizontally extending rackengaging allof said actuating gears, anactuator element individual to each louver and controlled by theassociated actuating gear thereof, a pivoting device linking the upperend of each louver with its associated actuator element,"said lowerchanneled guideway having a longitudinal slot therein along the lengththereof across the width of said blind, a pivoting device individual tothe lower end of each louver and passing through said slot, collapsiblelinks between adjacent louvers, and movable means secured to saidlouvers for imparting horizontal motion to said louvers in the directionof the width of said blind, to thereby cause said louvers to travelalong said longitudinal slot for collapsing or closing said blind.

'4. A window blind in accordance with claim 3, characterized in this,that said slot is zig-zag in shape, and the pivoting devices for thelower ends of said louvers have'conical housings, whereby said housingscan rest in the'spaced wide portions of said slot.

5. A window blind as defined in claim 3, wherein said slot hasconverging and diverging sides, the pivoting device's'fo'r the lowerends of said louvers have conical housings, and a liitele'ment forraising or lowering said lower channeled guideway without raising orlowering said upper guideway, to thereby variably control the tension onsaid louvers as a single unit. a

6. A window blind comprising upper and lower horizontally positionedchanneled guideways adapted to be mounted across a building opening tobe served by the blind, said blind having vertically arranged louverspositioned between said guideways and turnable about their verticalaxes, means in said upper channeled guideway for pivotally moving saidlouvers, said means including an actuating gear for each louver and anda common rack enaging the actuating gears of said louvers, and a liftgear engaging said lower channeled guideway for raising and lowering thesame without raising or lowering the upper guideway, to thereby variablycontrol the tension on said louvers as a single unit.

'7. A window blind comprising upper and lower horizontally positionedchanneled guideways adapted to be mounted across a building opening tobe served by the blind, said blind having vertically arranged louversturnable about their vertical axes, means in said upper channeledguideway for pivotally moving said louvers, said means including anactuating'gear' for the upper end of each louver and a control elementengaging all of said actuatinggears, a horizontally slidable carrierelement between the upper end of each louverand its associated actuatinggear, and means for pivotally mounting the other ends of said louvers insaid lower channeled guideway,

collapsible links between adjacent louvers, and an endless chain securedto'certain ones of said louvers for collapsing said louvers across theWidth of said blind.

8. A window blind comprising upper and lower horizontally positionedchanneled guideways adapted to be mounted across a building opening tobe served by the blind, said blind having vertically arranged louverspositioned between said guideways and turnable about their verticalaxes,- means' in said upper channeled guideway for pivotally moving saidlouvers, said means including an actuating gear for the upper end ofeach louver anda control element engaging all of said actuating gears,and means for pivotally mounting the lower ends of said louvers in saidlower channeled guideway, said last means including a thrust bearing foreach'louver mounted in said lower channeled guideway, means 'forvariably applying tension to all of said louvers as a single unit, andmeans linked to said louvers and efiective when said tension is releasedfor collapsing said louvers across the width of said blind.

9. A window blind comprising upper, and lower horizontally positioned,channeled guideways adapted to be mounted across a building Opening tobe served by the blind, said blind having vertically arrangedlouvers'positioned between said guideways and turnable about theirvertical axes; means in said upper channeled guideway for pivotallymoving said louvers, said. means including an actuating gear for theupper end of each louver and a control element engaging all or" saidactuating gears, and a series of gears at one side of said upperchanneled guideway for controlling the longitudinal movement of saidcontrol element, and means for pivotally mounting the lower ends of saidlouvers in said lower channeled guideway, said last means including athrust bearing for each louver mounted in said lower channeled guideway,and a lift gear engaging solely the lower guideway for raising andlowering thesame without moving the upper guideway, thereby to variablycontrol the tension on said louvers as a unit.

10. In a window blind having vertically arranged louvers which arepivotal about their vertical axes, means for pivoting said louvers, saidmeans comprising an actuator element coupled to one end of eachr'louverthrough a linking device, said actuator element having a gear, a shafttherefor and a turn key at one end thereof, said linking device. beingpivotal and having a channel for accommodating said turn key, saidlinking device being provided at itsrlower part with means forsupportinga louver.

' either taut or'limp at the option of the operator,

said-means including. a channeled guideway having a zig-zag shaped slotextending longitudinally over the length of said guideway, individualpivoting devices having conical housings resting in said slot andlinking. one end of said louvers to said guideway through said slot,said conical housings being larger than the transverse dimension of saidslot, and means for raising or lowering said channeled guideway togetherwith said conical housings whereby any desired degree of tension can besimultaneously applied to all of said louversp. V i v 12. In a windowblind having, vertically'arranged louvers which are pivotal about; theirvertical-axes, means for maintaining, said louvers either taut or limpat. the option of the operator, said means including a. channeledguideway having a longitudinally extending slot with regularlyrecurringi'diverging and converging sides,

'9 individual pivotal grip elements linking one end of said louvers tosaid guideway through said slot and resting therein, said grip elementseach having a conical housing within and larger than the transversedimension of said slot, and a lift' gear secured to said channeledguideway for raising and lowering the same together with said conicalhousings, whereby a desired degree of tension can be simultaneouslyapplied to all of said 'louvers.

13. A window blind as defined in claim 9, including a torsion shaft onthe same side of said blind as said series of gears for turning one ofsaid gears.

THOMAS ARMSTRONG.

10 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fileof this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,030,234 Villalobos Feb. 11,1930 2,158,454 Zubiria May 16, 1939 2,370,794 Houmere Mar. 6, 19452,386,695 Lister-Torsen Oct. 9, 1945 2,524,372 Bopp et a1. Oct. 3, 1950

